Executive’s measures will lead country to excessive deficit, rails new MEP
For all the cosy words today in Switzerland (suggesting the government is focused on a long mandate), the simmering outrage of PS Socialists at losing power to AD four months ago has roared back to the surface, with new MEP Ana Catarina Mendes accusing the government of using propaganda to create “the false idea” that it is governing.
During the period of political statements in parliament, Socialist MEP Ana Catarina Mendes, (elected only three days ago), said that in the middle of the campaign for last Sunday’s European elections – and “ignoring the warnings of the National Electoral Commission” – the government took it upon itself to “make a torrent of announcements’ to create the false idea that it was governing.
“Governing is not about announcements or inaugurations. Governing is not about opposing the previous government. (…) What is left of all these announcements, apart from the defeat on election night? What is left are promises with no deadline so that their validity can never be scrutinised by this Republican Assembly,’ she said in what Lusa recognises “was probably her last speech” in the parliamentary building.
Ms Mendes also accused the government of creating a narrative that has “jeopardised Portugal’s credibility with the European Union.
She harked back to concerns voiced by the former Socialist finance minister now running the Bank of Portugal about a possible return to budget deficit with the executive’s plans, saying that the government is “squandering the credibility” Portugal gained over the last few years (under the previous Socialist administration).
“With the measures in the AD programme, Portugal will return to an excessive budget deficit next year”, she railed.
But Ms Mendes was gracious enough to welcome AD’s willingness to support António Costa’s possible candidacy for the presidency of the European Council, saying he is the “right man for the next five years” for the job.
Source material: LUSA
